Influence of External Factors on Innovation Activity of Fuel and Energy Companies

Achieving the goals set in the current version of the Energy Strategy of the Russian Federation requires comprehensive analysis of the innovation landscape of the fuel and energy complex. The article investigates the impact of global oil crises and changes in patent portfolios of fuel and energy companies in the context of their economic situation. Feasible mechanisms of state participation in the implementation of energy strategies are presented. The established dependences are a direct relationship between patenting activity related to core business areas and revenue for companies of the upstream sector, a direct relationship of the number of patenting categories and revenue for companies of the electric power sector and manufacturers of mining equipment, and an inverse relationship of patenting activity and revenue for companies of the downstream sector. For international VIOCs, increasing the number of patenting categories and activity under these categories correlates with revenue; for national VIOCs^a, a fivefold increase in activity under four categories has resulted in a twofold increase in market capitalization. The analysis results are used to formulate recommendations for the Russian fuel and energy sector: an action methodology for each type of company is proposed, promising development directions for national VIOCs are identified based on forecast models, revision of mandatory KPIs (key performance indicators) for state companies is proposed, and high-level forms of interaction between states and the private sector are also proposed.